It’s hard to be a fan. It’s a tremendous amount of time and emotional energy.

It’s particularly hard to be a fan — after spending a tremendous amount of time and emotional energy — having to watch a manager make the same mistakes over and over and over.

That happened tonight… my San Francisco Giants were eliminated from the baseball playoffs… because of INSANE bullpen management by Bruce Bochy…

… the same INSANE bullpen management style that made the Giants nearly the worst team in baseball after the all star break.

I’m tired of hearing how it’s the players fault… that we don’t have any closers. We had lots ways to close a game… how about just keeping your starting pitcher in when he has a hot hand? Bochy pulled Matt Moore after the 8th even though he was throwing a 2 hitter!

Or how about using one of your other starting pitchers? It was, after all, an ELIMINATION GAME. Any of your starters would have gladly taken the ball… how about Samardzija? Or Blach? Heck, even Madison Bumgarner, who only threw 5 innings last night, would have picked up the ball in an instant.

Or how about letting a fresh Will Smith throw to more than one batter? It’s so painfully clear that Bochy’s platooning style simply wasn’t working.

How about doing ANYTHING other than doing the same ineffective stuff over and over and over?!

This is the second most crushing loss in my five decades or so of being a Giants fan.

Why he pulled Madison Bumgarner in the 7th — with 10 strike-outs, no walks, and a ONE HITTER going — is beyond all baseball reasoning.

The fact that he won’t share his reasons why he did this — he offered all of: “I said we talked. I’ll leave it at that.” — is simply an irresponsible cop-out.

Sorry, after the September he’s managed, we fans deserve more than that.

I finally heard a reason that, while hard to swallow, does makes everything make sense… and if you’re a parent with a teenager, it makes doubly sense: Bochy might have had some parenting to do.

I think Bochy told Bum something like, “you have a history with Puig but we need you on the mound tonight so don’t lose your head… because if you do, I won’t hesitate to pull you.”

Any good parent knows you have to set clear boundaries for your children… articulate clear consequences… and take immediate action if necessary.

I think that’s what happened.

That’s the only explanation that explains everything, including Bochy’s reluctance to discuss after the game… including former Giant and current Giant Broadcaster Duane Kuiper’s “frosty” demeanor on his usually even-keeled radio spot the next morning. Sometimes family matters need to be kept within the family.

I still think the way Bochy is managing the bullpen is insane.

And, like all parents, Bochy is probably wishing he articulated some other consequence, especially in such a pivotal game.

But, I respect the hell out of him for sticking to his parenting guns if, indeed, that was the case.

I obviously — and painfully — misspoke in my “One Other Thing I Know” post below. I want to say last night’s loss to the Dodgers — with the Giants winning by one run going into the bottom of the 9th — was a terrible, horrible gut punch…

Why he pulled Madison Bumgarner in the 7th — with 10 strike-outs, no walks, and a ONE HITTER going — is beyond all baseball reasoning.

The fact that he won’t share his reasons why he did this — he offered all of: “I said we talked. I’ll leave it at that.” — is simply an irresponsible cop-out.

Sorry, after the September he’s managed, we fans deserve more than that.

I’m only a fan. But it seems pretty obvious to me that (1) the Giants don’t have a reliable bullpen, so (2) the Giants should have been playing September like we’re in sudden death — because WE ARE — so (3) they needed to use STARTERS to close games, and (4) Bochy needs to abandoned his ineffective bullpen platooning and if a reliever is getting the job done (like Smith was in the 8th inning), just let him keep throwing. Duh!

Call a spade a spade: Bochy may be a Hall of Fame manager, but he’s completely mismanaged the Giants down the stretch.